


Etched in Skin

by aridinosnore



Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mentioned Cameron Ashdown/Emma Carstairs, Mentioned Helen Blackthorn/Aline Penhallow, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 11:03:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11416596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aridinosnore/pseuds/aridinosnore
Summary: emma carstairs experiences life in hell— sorry, college. what do you do when you come face to face with your soulmate but don't believe in that bullshit? emma clearly doesn't know.alternate universe where there are no shadowhunters or anything downworld. the only magic is soulmates. based off of a tumblr post; "soulmate au where when you write something on your skin with pen/marker/whatever the hell you want, it will show up on your soul mates skin as well."





	Etched in Skin

**Author's Note:**

> hello hello and welcome to my first jemma/blackstairs fanfiction! well it isn't my first. i wrote a oneshot before the dark artifices came out but it wasn't that good lmao. i hope you enjoy this one though! i will try to update it as much as i can along with my "Erase my Regrets" fanfiction. please leave any feedback, it'll most definitely help me with my writing progress and how i shape this story. love you fellow shadowhunters!

College is a bitch. Emma Carstairs knew that for sure. The blonde wondered how families could be excited for their children to go off to college for it wasn’t all that great. She had experience. Sure, she liked her college major— well, like is an overstatement. Emma’s college major had been related to the arts of photography. The young woman wasn’t sure why she picked it exactly; she never had the eye to capture beauty or the skill to look at something in her everyday time to think, “This would be an amazing photo.” Hell, Emma had nearly fallen asleep the first day of her new adult life on campus.

 

Yeah. Photography wasn’t her thing.

 

Fortunately, there were perks to college that kept Emma sane after all her classes. She basically lived in the coffee shop, named Java Jones, during her first semester when she was determined not to fail and try her best to keep herself organized. Emma’s plans and goals for that flopped. If the bitter-sweet scented shop was closed, Emma had her own dorm to find comfort in. She had heard many stories about student dormitories— both good and bad. Emma decided that her own experiences with the dorms were more on a good side.

 

She had to admit, Emma was a little nervous to see who her roommate would be. The blonde girl knew that she’d put up with any roommate but if she would be living there, studying there, eating there,  _ sleeping  _ there, she needed somebody who could put up with  _ her.  _ Therefore, when Cristina Rosales appeared on one of the beds when Emma walked in, she nearly cried tears of joy.

 

Cristina seemed like a nice person at first glance. She introduced herself with a bright smile and didn’t seem like the type who would annoy Emma. Even now, looking at the dark-haired girl, Emma found that Cristina wasn’t a person that  _ she’d  _ want to piss off. The two hit it off pretty quickly and engaged in a conversation nearly right away about the state of the dorm building. Cristina had helped Emma unpack her things and tried her best to let the blonde feel comfortable in their new home that they’d share. Emma learned that Cristina was from Mexico, she was engulfed in stories about Cristina’s family and a boy named Diego— Emma nicknamed him Perfect Diego— who had broken Cristina’s heart. She learned that Cristina had decided to move to the city of Los Angeles for few years to escape everything but to also explore. Overall, the two girls became best friends.

 

Three years had passed since they became friends and Emma was struggling throughout her college major but somehow keeping it together. She was a tough girl after all. Cristina persisted to give her some help with the constant assignments thrown at Emma by her professor but she brushed her off, telling her that she was fine. Cristina’s own major was political science. The young woman believed in the rights of other people and how political views seemed to be violating those rights. Cristina’s own composure and views inspired Emma in a way. Still, Emma hated this hellhole even if Cristina was with her nearly every step of the way. Unfortunately, Cristina would be graduating this year and leaving Emma alone for her last year as a senior. Thoughts like these made Emma suck in a breath and make herself stronger, she’d put up with it.

 

“I’m heading out,” Emma called out as she shrugged on a denim jacket. Cristina looked up from her book that she had invested her attention into.

 

“Going to the park?” She asked as she doggy eared a page to go back to it later. Emma responded with a nod and opened up the door to lead out to the dormitories halls. She heard Cristina call out a quick farewell as the door closed with a soft thud.

 

The park was one of the very places that Emma escaped to when she felt stressed. Before when she was a child, she’d sneak up to her roof on the house and watch the cars pass by along the highway. She had a good view of the ocean from that high place. The smell of it had calmed her but she knew that if she ever stepped into the deep abyss, she’d panic. Emma wasn’t friendly with the ocean. She had nearly drowned while her family went out to the beach for a picnic. Nobody had been paying attention to where the little girl went and she found herself kicking at the water, flailing her arms in hope of getting back to shore. Traumatizing, right?

 

As Emma walked down the hall, crinkling her nose at the musky odor of the building, she let herself slip into a daze. Whilst passing certain rooms, she could hear the sounds and noises of it’s occupants as if peeking into a little bit of their life. She could hear the noises of somebody tapping against their keyboard, the subtle beeping of a microwave, the soft musical tunes playing from somebody’s phone.

 

“Proves that the walls are extremely thin,” Emma muttered as she looked down at her hand. She drew her eyebrows together as she discovered a smudge of blue paint on the back of her palm. Emma frowned and wiped her hand on her jeans. Of course this happened. It always happened.

 

Everybody knew about it. Everybody was included. It had to do with your soulmate. Once you were born, anything that the person who is bond to your soul draws, paints, or marks on their skin will show on yours. If they drew something on their skin with a marker, it would show on yours as if you wrote it on your skin as well. Emma thought this was complete bullshit despite all of the miraculous times paint seemed to have smeared on her California sun kissed skin that still appeared pale no matter how many times she stayed in the sun. Sometimes paint would even be found on her face. She didn’t believe in any of the soulmate stories even if she had experienced it herself or seen it. To her, it was stupid. It could mess with your life or it could help it move forward. Emma saw it as something to mess with your life. It was as if it were forcing you to love only one person, it made you feel as if you couldn’t explore with other people.

 

Speaking of other people, Emma had a boyfriend. Cameron Ashdown was either a blessing or a curse. She wasn’t sure. The two had been together for about seven months and he had been surprised when Emma told him that she didn’t believe in soulmates. Cameron seemed too smitten to even care about the bonding of souls and certainly didn’t care whether they weren’t soulmates. In fact, he had hoped that they were soulmates. Emma shrugged it off and decided to try it out with the guy. Although as the months went by, they were in rocky territory… which lead them here.

 

_ Brr! Brr! _ The familiar sound made Emma’s pocket vibrate and she fished into her jeans, pulling out her phone to only frown. The photo of a llama illuminated her screen complete with the name “Cameron”. Emma hit the red dot indicating that she would not take the call. The two were in an argument about how Emma hadn’t been visiting lately. She wasn’t in the mood to yell her head off again. Lost in thought, the blonde had bumped into something, no,  _ someone _ while walking.

 

Emma looked up, ready to make a snarky and rude comment about watching where you were going— despite it being her fault for not paying attention— but was face to face with a white surface. It took her a few seconds to figure out what she had come in contact with but she concluded that it was a blank canvas. Emma was pulled out of her observation by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Her dark chocolate eyes reverted themselves from the painting canvas and met a pair of blue-green eyes. She blinked several times and took a few steps back.

 

Holding the canvas was a young man who looked about Emma’s age. He had dark chocolate curls that looked comforting to run your hands through, his frame was tall and built but not too bulky— he sure had muscle though, his cheekbones defined the shape of his face with olive skin. He was clad in all black; black t-shirt and black jeans. Emma wondered how the hell he could stand the heat of LA in that. What struck her the most though were his eyes. His eyes looked as if they held the ocean and for once, Emma didn’t seem frightened. They were the color of broken sea glass sometimes found lying on the shore, dusted with small grains of sand. They looked at Emma with a glint of confusion.

 

“Oh ah, I’m sorry,” Emma apologized, “I didn’t see you.” She rubbed the palm of her hands against the denim material on her thighs. The young man cracked a small smile and shook his head.

 

“It’s fine, I should be more careful of how I lug this stuff around anyway.” A low chuckle escaped his throat and the corner of Emma’s lip tugged up into a smile. “Well, I’ll see you around?” His voice raised as if asking a question but Emma knew that it was also a statement. The blonde beauty simply nodded and cleared her throat, moving past him.

 

What was that feeling she felt while observing more? More so talking to him? It made goosebumps dot her arms as she pushed open the dormitory doors, feeling a stare on her back.

 

* * *

  
  
  


Julian Blackthorn loved coffee with a passion, almost more than he loved painting. After all, the bitter drink kept him up late or awake in the early morning for when his hands itched to paint or when he had to leave for class. Julian was never one to be late nor was he the one to slack off, it happened occasionally but he did everything in his power to keep himself organized. Coffee was the answer. He was nearly about to leave for his favorite coffee spot when a soft and tired voice rang out from the stairs.

 

“Jules?” The voice asked and Julian turned his head to face his youngest brother, Tavvy. Octavian was now eleven years old yet Julian still felt as if Tavvy was the baby he cradled in his arms long ago. “Are you going to make pancakes?”

 

Crap, he had nearly forgot. Julian flashed his little brother a smile and nodded. “Yeah of course, let me just get everything set up.” The brunet strode over to the kitchen, setting his shoulder bag down on the island-countertop, and began to grab the ingredients needed for the sweet breakfast cake.

 

“Thanks,” Tavvy said with a yawn and plopped himself onto one of the barstools that adorned the island. Julian looked over at Tavvy, who had now somehow fallen asleep upright, and smiled. Not long after, Julian sighed and leaned against the counter, staring at the batter he had made.

 

The Blackthorns were a large and… damaged family you could say. To Julian, they weren’t exactly broken but more so lost. Their parents had perished in a car accident, their mother died right on impact and their father passed in the hospital. Julian was fourteen at the time and was left to take care of his younger siblings temporarily. However, he had two older siblings who weren’t fullblood. They were his half siblings, born from another woman but that didn’t make them any different in the younger Blackthorn’s eyes. They all adored Mark and Helen, who were eighteen and twenty at the time, but the two had gone on with their own lives before the accident. They both had moved out. Mark had moved to go to college in Los Angeles but found himself an apartment and Helen had moved to New York with her girlfriend, Aline Penhallow. Mark tried his best to help out with the younger Blackthorns but it was nearly futile with how busy school had been for him. Now at twenty-one, Julian was pretty much the father role to Tiberius, Livia, Drusilla, and Octavian.

 

Although, Ty and Livvy were now eighteen. They were practically adults now, though the realization of that still pained Julian as a father would feel. Dru was still a kid in his eyes despite being the age of sixteen. She was most definitely the most difficult out of the group right now, Julian wasn’t sure how to talk to the horror obsessed teenager. He tried his best. Julian made sure that Tavvy still kept that child innocence in himself. He had been four years old when their parents had died yet he still had memories of what had happened to them.

 

Carefully balancing the pancake on the spatula, Julian placed the delicious piece of food on a plate. He took out strawberries, chocolate chips, and a can of whip cream to decorate the pancake. With the finished product, Julian set the plate in front of Tavvy and chuckled. His hand reached out to ruffle Tavvy’s signature Blackthorn curls which snapped him awake. He grumbled something about pancakes and rubbed at his eyes.

 

“I gotta head out now, you know what to do with your plate after you’re done.” Julian said softly and placed a kiss on top of the young boy’s head. He picked up his bag and hastily scribbled a note for his younger siblings, reassuring them that he’d be back soon. With that, Julian opened up the door and set foot on the pavement outside.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The night before, Julian had been painting in one of his friend’s dorm rooms. Julian didn’t live in the dormitories as he had to watch over his younger siblings at the Blackthorn household. He and his friend had been working on a project but it started to get late, they still had an empty canvas that they needed to paint in order to create the collage. “Thanks for letting us use your space, man,” Julian said with a nod.

 

“Yeah no problem, have a good night.” His partner replied and Julian started down the hall. The canvas was blocking his view somewhat and he hoped that he didn’t bump into anybody or anything. That would be embarrassing. Just then, he felt something run into the canvas in his arms. More like someone. Speak of the devil.

 

He had looked down to find a blonde girl. She was most definitely the same age as him and she was beautiful. It was the first thought that struck him. She was obviously attractive and her hair was tied into a long braid that went over her shoulder. Her eyes that seemed like melted chocolate stared into his. Julian listened to her as she apologized and replied quickly, almost nervous. It had irked him. Why did he feel such a way spontaneously? He had watched her leave so suddenly and wondered what it was about her.

 

Now he was here in his favorite coffee shop. The bitter smell of his favored caffeine drink filled his nostrils and he sighed in relief. Java Jones was a 24-hour coffee shop that was a blessing to the Blackthorn. Julian stood in line to get his coffee when a familiar blonde head caught his eye. The girl had appeared to be sitting with her laptop and a pile of photographs were spread across the table. Julian observed as she furrowed her eyebrows and crinkled her nose whilst looking down at the photos. Her brown eyes glanced up and Julian quickly reverted his gaze.

 

The brunet decided that maybe he should try talking to her. He had asked— told her that he would see her around. A little conversation wouldn’t hurt, right? Julian sucked up the courage needed and took the coffee that he ordered, saying a quick thank you and walked over to where the young woman was sitting.

 

“Is this seat taken?” Julian asked and he gestured with his free hand to the seat across from the girl. She looked up and her eyes gleamed with realization of who he was.

 

“No it isn’t actually.” She replied.

 

“Do you mind if I sit here?” She shook her head no and he smiled, pulling the chair out slightly and situating himself in it. Julian studied the photos laid out on the wooden table and hummed.

 

“Photography major?” He asked with a raised eyebrow and looked up at her. The blonde sighed and leaned back in her seat.

 

“Yup, I don’t like it. I wish I chose something else. Professor Loss is really the only thing I can cooperate with in the class. A soft laugh fell from her lips and Julian cracked a smile.

 

“Hey, they aren’t that bad,” Julian suggested as he picked one up. It was a photograph of the ocean at sunset. Looking at the picture made his hands itch to paint it. The girl’s hand snatched the photo out of his hands, a pink tint dusted her cheeks with a defensive expression on her face.

 

“Come on, you don’t want to look at these half-assed photos. You never know, maybe I stole it off of Pinterest!”

 

Julian cocked an eyebrow again. “Did you?”

 

“Nah, I may hate the course and college but I wouldn’t want to get expelled.” Emma took a bite of the cookie that Julian now noticed had been in her lap this whole time. She munched on the sweet as she talked, “It’d be a waste of money. All I gotta do is put up with all the projects and assignments for another year and I’m all good!” Julian laughed and soon both of them were laughing, Emma being more careful in case she choked on her food.

 

“I never got your name, did I?” Julian asked after they calmed down from their laughing fit. People were giving them weird looks but the brunet brushed them off. Things were going off well.

 

Emma shook her head, “Nope. It’s Emma Carstairs.” She flashed him a grin as she said her name with confidence.

 

Julian nodded as he let the name sink in, matching the name with her face. “Well nice to meet you formerly, Emma.” The name rolled off his tongue with genuine interest. “I’m Julian. Julian Blackthorn.”

 

“You too, Julian. Julian Blackthorn,” she replied mockingly and Julian shook his head, a chuckle erupting from his throat. He quickly learned that Emma was one to kid around. Surprisingly, it didn’t annoy him.

 

He had a good feeling about this.


End file.
